Welcome to the audio version of my Alexander Technique 'active or constructive rest' video! Shed excess tension, increase awareness, improve breathing, plug in your AT thinking...

If you're already familiar with the set up, you can skip ahead to ~3:30. You may hear a cheerful voice out in the hall toward the end of the talk.
:-)

Constructive Rest 1:10:21

Neuma 135
The sets of concrète miniatures on this album are grounded firmly in a tradition that stretches back to the early days of electronic music, and expands the tradition starting at the time when digital audio technology was maturing and becoming more portable and accessible. The music is a product of deft technique and intuition informed by years of musical experiences and training in visual art.

In these very personal pieces, found sounds, small and even homely, are examined and re-examined and made into small, vibrant worlds to inhabit for a moment. The concentrated moments are arranged to make the album a journey through varied and shifting moods—building textures, changing directions, inviting a listener into a flow of engaging spaces. Unpitched sounds intersect with rich harmonic fields. Distinctive rhythm profiles are set against insistent drones and ethereal clouds. Sounds swing between the concrete and the abstract, recognizable objects disappear into musical illusion.

The album represents one facet of the wide-ranging interests of a composer who has made his career in the Midwest, dedicated to making music where he is, teaching at Western Illinois University, co-directing the annual New Music Festival, collaborating with local colleagues, and programming hundreds of new pieces by living composers on dozens of concerts.

Pocket Music

James Caldwell: Deep Pocket Music

Audacious listening; Sound thinking; Food for the mind's ear.

James Caldwell: Deep Pocket Music

Neuma Records

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